Review of Hawking (2013) by Nathan M — 24 Oct 2014

An incredibly interesting life and an interesting personality elevates the documentary above its poor direction. Benefiting from Hawking's own narration, Hawking, the film, is effective at telling the story of his life, but that's it. Now, maybe that's enough for most viewers, but I want my documentaries to do a little more. I want to get a sense of this person, I want an angle on the story, and Hawking gives us none of that. It doesn't even give us enough stylish direction to make everything very interesting.

But in the end, the story of Hawking's life is so interesting it doesn't really matter. The film holds your interest, because you want to know more about his story. Perhaps in the hand of a more capable director this film could have been great, but what we have is definitely a serviceable documentary.